Eclipse Phase

[Mckma]

Okay, I'm in the super early brainstorming stages of a new campaign and am looking for input/ideas to build into it.  I'm wanting to plot out story arc/conflict revolving around the idea of the "big bad" being a meme evolving through the hypercorps/Planetary Consortium.  Inspiration has come from a couple major sources, Akaja from the Know Evil campaign, CGP Grey's "Thought Germ" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc), and seeing how people spread misinformation in internet echo chambers.  As of right now, I know that I'm treading a really tough position of how to actually discover/fight a meme or something so nebulous, but I think that is also part of what makes it so terrifying.

Some of the structure/ideas I'm thinking:

• As with Akaja, no one "starts" the thing intentionally, it more or less arises from a series of events
• PCs would uncover the danger as they are undergoing other missions at which point their focus shifts to the meme fulltime
• The danger of fighting it head on (e.g. If someone is arguing something that is completely false and idiotic, you don't typically set up a debate with the most prominent figure on the opposing side for the risk of actually legitimizing what your are fighting, but more sinister than stupid)
• I'm thinking the x-threat piece comes in as it might be something of a singularity-seeking meme or essentially trying to turn all of transhumanity collectively into a TITAN-esque collective
• Before PCs uncover the "meme-ness" of it, they take down something only to see it pop up several other places (a la Hydra), leading to them delving into its true nature.
• Being a meme/thought-germ, it infects different hypercorps in different ways, perhaps leading to mini x-threats throughout the campaign.  This could lead to the struggle of balancing fighting the symptoms vs. the disease.

So those are some of the initial thoughts.  The overall concept is probably less than an hour old and I haven't slept on it yet (the time that things typically coalesce better for me), but I was eager to get input and thoughts from others.  Any ideas, especially on how to "beat" the meme or major flaws to avoid would be greatly appreciated.

[trinite]

Sounds like a cool core idea. I don't have specific advice, but an idea of something general to keep in mind: make sure that your players can fight the bad guys using the tools that they have: i.e. the skills and abilities on their character sheets. So, obviously they can't shoot/infiltrate/infosec the meme itself, but give them ways to oppose the meme by using those skills.

[trinite]

I have no idea how useful it might be, and it was written for a different setting and system, but this might be worth checking out for some ideas: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/transhuman-space-classic-toxic-memes

[Adam_Autist]

http://deadline.com/2016/01/altered-carbon-drama-series-laeta-kalogridis-netflix-skydance-1201684680/

EP tv show anyone? Wasn't sure if it should be posted here or Shoutout thread?

Have been throwing around some ideas for a intro/ tutorial game sort of based on portal sort of. Standard bad shit happens and firewall has to quarantine a group of potential recruits after having had to cut out a huge chunk of their memories via psych-Surgery and now the observers are giving the players routine seeming tasks and basic procedures and basic info to see how they react/ test for corruption from previous bad shit. hopefully a better write up to follow.

[Redroverone]

Okay, I'm in the super early brainstorming stages of a new campaign and am looking for input/ideas to build into it.  I'm wanting to plot out story arc/conflict revolving around the idea of the "big bad" being a meme evolving through the hypercorps/Planetary Consortium.  Inspiration has come from a couple major sources, Akaja from the Know Evil campaign, CGP Grey's "Thought Germ" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc), and seeing how people spread misinformation in internet echo chambers.  As of right now, I know that I'm treading a really tough position of how to actually discover/fight a meme or something so nebulous, but I think that is also part of what makes it so terrifying.

Some of the structure/ideas I'm thinking:

• As with Akaja, no one "starts" the thing intentionally, it more or less arises from a series of events
• PCs would uncover the danger as they are undergoing other missions at which point their focus shifts to the meme fulltime
• The danger of fighting it head on (e.g. If someone is arguing something that is completely false and idiotic, you don't typically set up a debate with the most prominent figure on the opposing side for the risk of actually legitimizing what your are fighting, but more sinister than stupid)
• I'm thinking the x-threat piece comes in as it might be something of a singularity-seeking meme or essentially trying to turn all of transhumanity collectively into a TITAN-esque collective
• Before PCs uncover the "meme-ness" of it, they take down something only to see it pop up several other places (a la Hydra), leading to them delving into its true nature.
• Being a meme/thought-germ, it infects different hypercorps in different ways, perhaps leading to mini x-threats throughout the campaign.  This could lead to the struggle of balancing fighting the symptoms vs. the disease.

So those are some of the initial thoughts.  The overall concept is probably less than an hour old and I haven't slept on it yet (the time that things typically coalesce better for me), but I was eager to get input and thoughts from others.  Any ideas, especially on how to "beat" the meme or major flaws to avoid would be greatly appreciated.

I used religion as a meme threat. I've lost my original notes on the main baddy, but the basic idea was stolen from Duality - the main baddy was a guy ascension forked with a baby TITAN delta fork. The religion hook was based on the idea that so many religions have about the end times and how 'prophecy' meant that they had to go blow it all up to be saved. I combined that with the stuff from this awesome link and went from there. I was able to fold in petal creation in an intemediate step and I turned the Egg into a skyscraper sized chunk of strange matter that could be transformed into a quark-gluon star with an assist from the solar power transmitters on Caloris 18. It wasn't a terribly well written thing, but I still think the idea of religion as meme warfare is one that can get you a lot of traction.

[trinite]

That awesome link is broken! 

[Adam_Autist]

io9.gizmodo.com/the-classic-cyberpunk-novel-altered-carbon-is-becoming-1754048539

2nd Time's the charm

[trinite]

io9.gizmodo.com/the-classic-cyberpunk-novel-altered-carbon-is-becoming-1754048539

2nd Time's the charm

You were right, that's awesome.

[Adam_Autist]

It'll be interesting to see how they handle the Sleeving aspect in a visual medium.

I'm glad we live in a time when sf tv look good (Note to self, Expanse!). I hate rubber forehead aliens.

That being said Total Recall 2077 is amazing and was made in the 90s (In a lot of ways better than Almost Human because it didn't shy away from adult themes).

[Redroverone]

Link is now fixed. Enjoy going down the rabbit hole.

[Adam_Autist]

I meant to say. Had some posting problems earlier.

[Redroverone]

I also will add this sublime Kris Straub comic to the infodump.

[Vivax]

Okay, I'm in the super early brainstorming stages of a new campaign and am looking for input/ideas to build into it.  I'm wanting to plot out story arc/conflict revolving around the idea of the "big bad" being a meme evolving through the hypercorps/Planetary Consortium.  Inspiration has come from a couple major sources, Akaja from the Know Evil campaign, CGP Grey's "Thought Germ" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc), and seeing how people spread misinformation in internet echo chambers.  As of right now, I know that I'm treading a really tough position of how to actually discover/fight a meme or something so nebulous, but I think that is also part of what makes it so terrifying.

Some of the structure/ideas I'm thinking:

• As with Akaja, no one "starts" the thing intentionally, it more or less arises from a series of events
• PCs would uncover the danger as they are undergoing other missions at which point their focus shifts to the meme fulltime
• The danger of fighting it head on (e.g. If someone is arguing something that is completely false and idiotic, you don't typically set up a debate with the most prominent figure on the opposing side for the risk of actually legitimizing what your are fighting, but more sinister than stupid)
• I'm thinking the x-threat piece comes in as it might be something of a singularity-seeking meme or essentially trying to turn all of transhumanity collectively into a TITAN-esque collective
• Before PCs uncover the "meme-ness" of it, they take down something only to see it pop up several other places (a la Hydra), leading to them delving into its true nature.
• Being a meme/thought-germ, it infects different hypercorps in different ways, perhaps leading to mini x-threats throughout the campaign.  This could lead to the struggle of balancing fighting the symptoms vs. the disease.

So those are some of the initial thoughts.  The overall concept is probably less than an hour old and I haven't slept on it yet (the time that things typically coalesce better for me), but I was eager to get input and thoughts from others.  Any ideas, especially on how to "beat" the meme or major flaws to avoid would be greatly appreciated.

If the meme virus operates like a religion that means that it is susceptible to weird mutations. New "revelations", differences in interpretation, differences in ritual and schisms are fertile ground to generate multiple competing memes that could all drive singularity-seeking behavior. This also allows EP do what it does best (outside horror) which is model gonzo scifi tropes. With multiple sects running around you can easily have a People's Republic of Judea and the Judean People's Republic in space with strange or subtle differences between each one.

[trinite]

I meant to say. Had some posting problems earlier.

Oh, *that's* the awesome link.

Whoah.

[AxiomaticBadger]

Hello all! I am a New Person who is New!
With that in mind, can someone explain the exact problem with SpaceWhales?

I get that they're awkward to work into a scenario, but no more than any other group using the "Mysterious Aliens/Mystics/Organisation" design space.
Okay, they make better patrons than PCs, but that still doesn't explain the Salt squirted in thier direction.


... Or is it just an extension of thier Shark-Punching prejudice against large aquatic creatures?